How To Create Lightning In Photoshop Cs5

A lightning bolt can add a point of interest to a night shot. However, lightning bolts have a habit of not showing up in the wild when you need them. Luckily, there's a way to create one in Photoshop. Read on to find out how it's done.

First, open a suitable night shot in Photoshop. Then follow these simple steps:

pmtavykd9vgjywtexz3f — Open a night shot into Photoshop CC

1.Hit theD key to reset your foreground and background colours to black and white, respectively. Then, create a new layer usingShift+Ctrl+Alt+N.

2.Activate the Gradient Tool by pressingG. In the Tool Options Bar selectForeground to Background. SelectLinear Gradient. Set the Mode toNormal. Set theOpacity to100%. UntickReverse, them finally tickDither andTransparency.

cx1hd7ujll2ghhsy1jnf — Create an abrupt Linear Gradient from black to white

3.Draw a gradient at the desire angle by clicking and dragging a short line. Try to keep the transition from black to white abrupt, as in this screenshot.

4.Go toFilter→Render→Difference Clouds. You'll see a squiggly, black line appear.

zuho5xl9fqecepqu5idt — Render Difference Clouds

5.HitCtrl+I to invert the colours and you'll see a white line appear. That's your lightning bolt. Change the Blending Mode toScreen. This shows the light parts of the Layer and hides the dark parts.

azmnnqmgabhepysxsn4v — Take that black line…

jhpk8i7lv6fev9ixafjv — … and invert the colours

6.HitCtrl+L to open Levels. Where it saysInput Levels, drag the Shadows slider (the black triangle) to the right to add definition to the lightning bolt. ClickOK to close Levels.

To hide any remaining white specs, click on theAdd Layer Mask icon in the Layers Panel, then brush over them with a soft, black brush (B). This will make them vanish. To make an area reappear, simply paint over it with a white brush instead.

dey9dpxa9ufybw0dyunu — Use Levels to add definition to your lightning bolt

7.Duplicate the Layer (Ctrl+J). Reduce theOpacity of the new Layer to50%.

8.Duplicate this Layer (Ctrl+J). Increase theOpacity to100%. Then go toFilter→Blur→Gaussian Blur. With thePreview box ticked, increase theRadius until the lightning looks natural. For this shot, that value was35px.

w3a8fhzqdcqg1r1lxpee — Add glow with Gaussian Blur, then duplicate it

9.Merge the lightning Layers by selecting them and hittingCtrl+E. Change the Blending Mode back toScreen. HitCtrl+J to duplicate your lightning bolt, then resize it by hittingCtrl+T and dragging the corner handles. Reposition it with theMove tool (V) to create forked lightning.

10.Select the Background Layer, then hitShift+Ctrl+Alt+N to create a new Layer. Change the Layer's Blending Mode toOverlay. Reduce theOpacity to40%. With a soft, white brush (B), paint over the lightning bolt to create more glow around it.

With that, you've finished your basic lightning bolt. If you'd like to make it more complex, select one of the lightning bolt Layers, duplicate it (Ctrl+J), then make the lightning bolt smaller by hittingCtrl+T and dragging the corner handles to resize it. Reposition it until it looks right.

Keep repeating the process by duplicating (Ctrl+J) and then transforming (Ctrl+T) until you're happy.